Rape of minor Hindu girl taken up with Sindh CM

Posted by: admin in Gender IssuesJanuary 8, 2013Comments Off on Rape of minor Hindu girl taken up with Sindh CM518 Views

Usman Manzoor

ISLAMABAD: After waiting and seeing that no government official has taken the issue of alleged rape of a six-year-old Hindu girl in Sindh seriously, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Human Rights has tried to shake the conscience of the rulers who are duty-bound to give protection to each citizen irrespective of their religion, sect, area, caste,etc.

Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the Human Rights Adviser of the PPP government, has requested Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to take measures for the protection of minorities, children and female population. The CM has also been asked to direct the relevant police authorities to take action against the perpetrators of this barbaric act.

Khokhar is the first from the government side to take notice of this rape issue being intensively projected on the social media. The adviser has mentioned that the treatment meted out to a Hindu minor girl depicts the status of women and girls in the society where ‘even a small child is treated as a mere object of desire’.

In his letter written to the CM Sindh, Mustafa Khokhar has mentioned that it is brought to the notice of CM that a news item published in ‘The News’ on December 14, 2012 which reported that a 6-year-old Hindu girl “student of Class 1, was playing near her house in Ghulam Nabi Shah area on Dec 3, when one Hashim Magiro…, allegedly kidnapped and raped her.

There were also unconfirmed reports that the girl was gang-raped”. “Family sources said the girl was first taken to the Umerkot district hospital, where there was no doctor on duty. Then, they took her to Mirpurkhas at a distance of 76 kilometres. Her condition was deteriorating as she was bleeding profusely, but the medical staff at the Mirpurkhas hospital did not pay any attention to her. According to the family, she was treated the same way in Hyderabad.”

“This news item, if true, is extremely disturbing. It is indicative of many ills afflicting our society and governance institutions some of which are: a) The treatment that is meted out to our children by the society; b) The status of women and girls. Even a small child is treated as a mere object of desire; c) The plight of the minorities who are somehow treated as lesser citizens; d) Total lack of adequate health services in remote areas; e) The apathy of the medical staff at government hospitals to the condition of their patients; f) Ineffectiveness of the law enforcement agencies which emboldens the criminals to perpetrate these atrocities without fear of consequences”, the letter says.

It adds: “In view of the foregoing, and for the sake of protecting our children, minorities and female population, I request you to direct the health department to provide the best possible treatment to the innocent Hindu girl and to order action against the medical staff at MirpurKhas and Hyderabad hospitals who did not promptly provide medical help to the victim. I also request you to direct the relevant police authorities to immediately take action against the perpetrators of this barbaric act.”